No income, hefty mortgage - Inglis says yes to talks with Essendon

Glenn Jackson

STRANDED without a club and, for the moment, without an income, superstar Greg Inglis will meet Essendon coach James Hird tomorrow in the surest sign yet that his disillusionment with rugby league could result in his quitting the code.

Inglis remains in limbo after the NRL blocked his move from Melbourne to South Sydney over third-party deals. As the saga over his contract with the Rabbitohs drags on, his manager, Allan Gainey, confirmed to the Herald last night that he would meet the new Bombers coach.

Ripe for conversion ... it is believed Greg Inglis, disillusioned with league, is eligible for the AFL next year.

Gainey also claimed Inglis is owed $270,000 by Melbourne, and was struggling to meet mortgage payments as he had not been paid for almost three months.

Gainey contacted the Storm's chief executive, Ron Gauci, late last week over money he said was owed to Inglis from his 2009 and 2010 contracts. The dispute over the $117,000 legal fees for the defence of assault charges against Inglis have clouded how much is owed, but Gainey asked Gauci to quarantine some funds for the Test centre to use while his contract wrangle dragged on.

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Inglis, who married earlier this month, raised the subject of his income, or lack thereof, last week during a meeting with NRL chief executive David Gallop.

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It has become another reason for the 23-year-old to become disillusioned with rugby league.

Gainey confirmed that Inglis would meet Hird tomorrow.

''Greg knows [Bombers great] Michael Long pretty well and they [Essendon] regard him as a tremendous athlete,'' Gainey said. ''[Chief executive] Ian Robson has been in touch with me right from the word go. He [Inglis] still wants to stay in rugby league but if Souths can't do the deal, he'll either have to go back to Melbourne, and his contract will have to be honoured, or he can look at other alternatives. We have to have a back-up plan.

''James wanted to talk to Greg about his interest in the AFL. His first choice is obviously to stay in rugby league, but I'll tell you that if he was purely choosing money, he'd be going the other way [to the AFL] for sure.

''I've got to look after his best interests.''

While it appeared Inglis might not be eligible for the AFL next year because he did not take part in the draft, it is believed he can indeed play next year as he has not played in the AFL during the past three years. But Gainey said St Kilda, who had shown interest initially, had pulled out of discussions because of - ironically - salary cap constraints.

There was condemnation of the NRL's stance yesterday. Peter Maher, a former Storm director who was sacked by News Ltd following the appeal against the club's punishment over salary cap breaches - which resulted in Inglis being forced to leave the Storm - said the NRL's refusal to endorse the third-party deals for the Queenslander was giving AFL a free kick.

''He loves rugby league more than any bloke I've ever met in my whole life, but it's as if they don't want him to play the game,'' Maher said. ''How can this be in the best interests of the game if this bloke leaves the code? What does that say to aspiring footballers out there? If Greg Inglis can't get a game, what chance is there for the rest of them? I just can't understand why they would let Greg Inglis leave the game.''

That said, Souths boss Shane Richardson issued a statement to members vowing that the Rabbitohs would do everything in their power to ''keep Greg Inglis in rugby league and at South Sydney''.

The Herald revealed yesterday the extent of discontent by one of the third-party sponsors, Aboriginal Medical Service chairman Sol Bellear, over salary cap auditor Ian Schubert's decision to exempt only a small portion of the Rabbitohs' prospective third-party agreements.

Gallop, however, defended the decision, insisting the Rabbitohs were using third-party deals in a way they were not designed to be; to lower the portion of the contract included in the salary cap rather than giving the player a top-up to his market value.

He said the principle of third-party deals was designed to increase a player's earning capacity.

''The third-party deals in Greg's case, however, were not being used to gain extra money,'' Gallop said. ''They were being used to reduce - below the current market value - what Greg was being paid by Souths to sign.''

The NRL chief executive added that ''the ruling against Souths … in no way reflects on the third parties involved, and there is no suggestion of any of them having done anything improper''.